Car end straightener



April 7, 1953 c. w. GRAHAM 2,633,892

CAR END STRAIGHTENER Filed July 7, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET -l INVENTOR.

6/23/25 7) firakafrz,

Patented Apr. 7, 1953 STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,633,892 7 can ENDr STRAIGH'DENER Charles W1 Graham, Decatur, 111. Application new, 1950;.Seria1No. 1Z2, 5 87! (or. r53; 39

This, invention. relates to, devices for straighten.- ing, railway freight car. ends, or. the like.

In the transportation of. lading. by freightcars, due, to the. increased speed atwhich such. cars. are presently moved, the inertia or. momentum thereby built up in the. load, thesudden, stopping and starting of. cars, and. especially the. buffin shocks. to. which such carsare subjected inswitching, the load shifts against the. ends of the. cars, and. if. the impact. is, greater than the bending moment of the. steel. end, a permanent bulging of said end results. If the. bulge. isbeyond certain limit,s,. the. thus damaged, car must. be re.- moved from. service, until the end is repaired, and the use of the car is lost during the repair period.

Machines have been developed to deal with this condition, but because of the enormous pressure r qu dito. restore. bul ed ends to serviceable condition such machines. have not been. altogether satisfactory. Again, railway car steel ends are usually corrugated, the corrugations being on equally spaced, centers, and such machines as are known to applicant, usually employ spaced arms which engage in the valley oi a single corrugation and" exert its force against; that corrugation, and is thenmoved to the next adjacent; corrugation andso on until the entire. end is straightened.

Experience has shown that when a box car is damaged by bulging, itisusually the lower portion of the end that is involved. This lower damaged portion is; about, the: hei ht of; the end of an open top car, and thus a. device which will straighten the damaged part of a box car end with one operation of'the machine could also be used to straighten a damaged end of an open top car with one operation of the machine.

It is consequently the object of the invention to provide a machine capable of straightening the damaged part of an end of any type with one application of power.

Another object is to provide a machine of this character which in operation engages the valleys of a plurality of corrugations of a car end for a substantial portion of their length and thus insures that said corrugations will be straightened substantially from end to end thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description thereof.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing forming part of this application, and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of the improved car end straighteners showing the end of a car in dotted lines to which the straightener is applied.

Figure 2. is. an end elevation. of Figure 1,

Figure Me a. partial toprvie-wof Fi ure 1.

Figure 4 is a view on line 4--4 of Figure 1.

The straightening device comprises a pair of I.-beams l0-HJ arranged in the form of an A- frame, as shown in Figure 2, with what will be termed the upper end curved on a radius, as shown clearly in Figure 1. The outer flanges. of theI-beams Hl are, chamfered or cut away pro.- gressively from the point A to point B so that at a point C midwaybetween. points A and B the. top of the webs. of said beams engage each other. To hold said. beams in. spaced relation at, their free ends. pieces of.- spaced plate m terial H; and I2, span; the space between. said. webs and. are w ld d. the eto. a d: a similar plate i3; is. welde across the free ends of I -beams H).

A plate M, curved to conform to the curvature of the upper curved ends. of. beams in, and having concave. sidesis weldedtov the tops of beams ID to. reinforce that part of said beams where the flanges. are cutaway. l

A pair,- of angle. iron braces Lie-i5. are dis.- posed diagonally from end, to, end, of the beams or legs l0, being riveted as at t6, to; lower end of inner flange of legs l0 and as at,x H to. the webs of. the diverging, free upper ends of said legs H), the inner flanges of said legs being cut away so that the angles are attached on opposite sides of said webs. andv are thus spaced apart. a distance qualLto the thickness. of. said. webs.- a s tana y r sc nt shaped. p te. I 8. conform n n shape to the space between an les, [5 and legs P0" is welded, as. at [9, along, the curved edge to the inner flange of legs H and the opposite edge thereof extends between the angles l5 and is skip welded thereto as at 20'. A triangular plate 25 is positioned between angles l5 abutting edge to edge the plate l8 and said plate 25 is welded, as at 26, to flanges of angles l5.

Plates 25 are provided with aligned holes through which extend the ends of a tubular member 21, which ends are welded to said plates 25. A pair of supporting legs 2828 are pivotally mounted at their upper ends to member 21, and said legs 28 are held in spaced relation by braces 29 being welded at their ends thereto. These legs 28 support the device in any elevated position as will hereinafter be described.

To the outer flanges of legs I0 and in vertically spaced relation from the lower end thereof are welded a plurality of blocks 30 of progressively decreasing length, the ends of which are formed with arcuate recesses which are aligned and within each pair of said aligned recesses are welded tubular members 3|, which also assist in holding the legs l0 in rigidly spaced relation. These sockets 33 to which cables 34 are secured at one.

end and hooks (not shown) are secured to the other ends of said cables, which hooks are adapted to be hooked onto an underframe part of the car being worked upon.

At the upper ends of said legs l--l0, wedge blocks 36 are welded to the outer sides of the spaced webs of legs l0l0, which blocks 39' are shaped so as to have outer faces in parallel planes. Aligned holes 3'! are provided through said blocks and flanges for the support of a U-shaped lifting clevis 38.

Also spanning the space between legs Ill-l0 is a rod 39, the ends of which are welded to said legs, parallel with members 3!. This rod 39 rests upon the coupler shank of the car being operated upon when the straightener is in use and is held in position thereon by the cable 34 during the straightening operation.

When a car end, indicated at 50, is to be straightened, the device is positioned with rod 39 resting upon the coupler shank and with hook on end of cable 34 engaging a bolster (not shown) or other car underframe part. At this time the nose of the A-frame is resting upon the floor. A crane hook is then secured in clevis 38 and the crane then exerts an upward pull on the A-frame which then pivots on rod 39 until the tubular members 3! successively engage the valleys of the corrugations of the end to be straightened and ultimately pushes the same back in original position. Any means of anchoring the device to the floor during this operation may be resorted to so that the crane will not raise the device 01f the car. The drag legs 28 drag on the floor so as to '4 projecting from said frame adapted to engage in the valleys of the corrugations of a car end upon pivotal movement of said frame on said pivotal mounting in a direction toward the car end, and means at the other end of said frame for attachment of power means to move said frame on its pivot to cause said members to engage in the valleys of said corrugations.

2. A device for straightening distorted horizontally corrugated car ends comprising a frame having means at one end for attachment to one end of a car in pivotal relation upon a car coupler, a. plurality of spaced horizontal members projectin in varying spaced relation from said frame adapted to successively engage in the valleys of the corrugations of a car end upon pivotal movement of said frame upwardly and against said car end, and a clevis at the other end of said frame for attachment of power means to pivot said frame upwardly and against said car end.

3. A device for restoring distorted horizontally corrugated ends of railroad cars to normal condition, comprising a frame, means associated with one end of said frame to facilitate its attachment to one end of a car in pivotal relation upon a car coupler, spaced horizontal bars secured to said frame and projecting from said frame in progressively varying spaced relation therefrom, and clevis means at the other end of said frame for attachment of power means thereto to lift the frame and thereby cause the bars to successively engage the valleys of the corrugations of a car end and restore said end to normal condition.

CHARLES W. GRAHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 143,722 Sevey Oct. 14, 1873 164,399. Scaife June 15, 1875 167,412 Scalfe Sept. 7, 1875 1,787,095 Strausbaugh Dec. 30, 1930 2,146,875 Woodson Feb. 14, 1939 2,334,080 Freeman Nov. 9, 1943 2,371,659 Stultz Mar. 20, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 126,765 Germany Jan. 2, 1902 

